Bioware's next Mass Effect game could include an online component, at least judging by a job listing at Bioware.

While there are no exact details on what kind of online or multiplayer features will be included in Mass Effect, a job listing tweeted by Senior Development Director, Chris Wynn, spotted by Polygon.com, points to some online functionality.

"Things are getting real now and I need an excellent Producer to come shape online for the next Mass Effect," Wynn tweeted, confirming that the game will have an online component.

Earlier rumors regarding the new Mass Effect suggested the game will focus on exploration, will include the Mako, the all-terrain vehicle for planet surface as well as that the lead writer of Halo 4 is behind the game.

Bioware confirmed the next Mass Effect game way back in 2012, and also suggested that the new sequel will not follow the earlier released Commander Shepard trilogy.

If ComScore's estimates are to be believed, consumers will spend a total of $43.4 billion on online shopping during the holidays.

Mind you, this is only for November and December, so it's quite a pretty penny. Considering that the world is supposed to be going through a tough economic patch, it may sound a bit overly optimistic though.

If the estimate turns out to be correct, it will be a 17 percent on-year increase, building on the 15 percent on-year increase in 2011. Retail industry's expectations however are a bit more modest, expecting a mere 4.1 percent increase in spending in 2012.

It appears as if the supposed troubles have only changed the actual shopping method, because they sure don't seem to have stopped anyone. In fact, the first 18 days of the holiday season raked in $10.1 billion, which is 16 percent higher than last year. Online sales apparently peaked on November 8, with consumers spending $829 million on the day.

Ubisoft has decided that it will no longer use their controversial “always-on” DRM.

Apparently they scrapped in months ago and forgot to tell anyone, but from now on it will only require a single online activation after installing, with no activation limits, nor limits on how many PCs it may be activated.

Ubisoft’s worldwide director for online games, Stephanie Perotti said that the company listened to the feedback and decided that DRM was not worth the flaming. The method did not allow launching games without an internet connection, and if your connection dropped at any point, the game would instantly stop, often losing progress you may have made.

Until now Ubisoft seemed clutching on to its DRM for dear life which is why the climb down is a little odd. The company has also made some historically silly comments about software piracy, which it has never really quantified.Still it is good news for users and maybe some other publishing houses will also wake up and smell the coffee.

It didn’t look very good for the Kickstarter project of Shadowrun Online to reach its goal amount. With about 10 hours to go, the funding was about $30,000 short of making it happen.

However, as the hours ran down the funding increased. The project will be funded with a total of $558,863, which is 10 percent more than was needed in the first place.

Shadowrun Online didn’t enjoy the success that the Shadowrun Returns did getting Kickstarter financing to produce the new game. Shadowrun Returns game out of the gate is quickly reaching its target goal and exceeding it by a large amount.

Shadowrun Online seems to move along at a much slower pace, but did finish strong and was able to pull enough folks together to get the title financed to be made. Perhaps the most interesting thing is that Shadowrun Online will get an Android/Ouya version as part of the project, so you can chalk up another title coming for the Ouya platform.

The German Federation of Consumer Organizations has threatened Blizzard with legal action unless the company highlights the requirement for constant internet connection on Diablo III packaging.

Strangely enough, even though some companies tried similar methods in the past, and quite expectedly stirred a whole lot of trouble, Blizzard still decided to run with it. Now, it is given until July 27, 2012, to do as the group asks or face legal action.

In related news, the company has been fined in South Korea over not refunding customers for the Error 37, which rendered the game unplayable due to sheer number of players and resulting server errors. Thankfully, the fine is £4,500, so we're talking pocket money for the company.

Well, it's not the victory many players hoped for, but will probably be enough to shut everyone up. Besides, those without an internet connection can't complain much to begin with.

Electronic Arts is once again announcing that it will be shutting down a number of game servers for titles that (by its own measurements) are just no longer drawing them in as they used to. EA seems to shut down servers more quickly than many other publishers.

The company justifies these moves by saying that when a server gets to a level of fewer than 1% of all of the peak online players across all EA titles, it just costs too much to continue to support it. EA also feels that their IT staff could be better focused on supporting servers for games that continue to pack them in, so to speak.

Perhaps the most unique thing about this round of servers being pulled is that for the first time EA is pulling the plug on a server that had an online pass as part of the game. It seems that even an online pass that is part of a gaming package is not sufficient reason for EA to delay unplugging a server; but we can’t imagine that those who purchased a used copy and then paid to buy the online pass are going to be happy about this.

The first round of shut downs is coming on March 31st and will see only iPod Touch, iPad, and iPhone titles affected. The titles are: Battlefield 3: Aftershock, Fantasi Safari, and Ghost Harvest.

The second round list is far more extensive with a number of titles whose servers will be unplugged. The servers are:

- BOOM BLOX Bash Party for Wii

- Burnout Revenge for Xbox 360

- EA Create for PC, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360

- EA Sports Active 2.0 for PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360

- EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp for Wii

- FIFA 10 for PlayStation Portable and Wii

- The Godfather II for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

- MMA for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

- Need for Speed ProStreet for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

- The Saboteur (loss of The Midnight Club access) for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

- Spare Parts for PlayStation 3 Xbox 360

These servers will be shutdown on April 13th; and as you can see, a number of memorable titles will be going in this round. The EA MMA title will go down as the first with an online pass to get turned off.

The Saboteur will lose The Midnight Club access, and despite the average reviews for the title, we actually found this to be one of our favorite titles. Burnout Revenge hung around on the Xbox 360 for long time as quite popular, but it will finally capitulate.

Hopefully, none of the games that you are playing will make this list, but if you hurry you can at least have a couple more weeks to finish any missing online achievements for these titles.

Users who are interested in beta testing Ghost Recon Online for the PC have time to sign up. The closed beta is slated to start March 5th. If you act quickly you may be able to get in the beta.

The new “free to play” Ghost Recon offering for the PC will allow players to customize their skills and equipment while leveling up. It is assumed that the customizing and upgrading of your skills and equipment will be done through micro purchases, as is the norm these days.

The browser-based F1 Online that was announced last year from Codemasters is apparently ready for its first beta. The game’s official web site will be taking registrations for the beta. According to Codemasters, it will be a closed beta, but those participating will apparently be able to earn in-game rewards for when the game goes live.

The game is a top-down multiplayer browser-based title. It is compatible with both the PC and Mac from our understanding. The game takes the unique approach of combining both the management sim with actual multiplayer top down racing. The game does, of course, feature all of the teams, drivers, and circuits of the official 2011 Formula One World Championship.

In what has to be the most unfair survey conclusion we have seen, Game House has decided that women who play online games are more likely to have sex than those who don't connect. The implication is that women online gamers are easy like Sunday morning.

Game House used Harris Interactive for its 2000 person study. They found that females that play online games have a healthier social life and more frequent sexual activity than female gamers that don’t.

Just under half of female online gamers socialise in-person with at least one person a day while only 31 percent of female non-online gamers do the same. Eighty-six percent of female online gamers are also active on social networks like Facebook and Twitter while only 71 percent of female non-online gamers use social networks.

The sex question revealed that 57 percent of female online gamers have sex while only 52 percent of female non-online gamers are sexually active. More than 38 percent of female online gamers have sex at least once a week.

So does this mean that they are all brazen hussies? No, not really. More than two-thirds are married and any sex is probably with their husband. Twenty-two percent never married and 14 percent are separated, divorced or widowed.

Over a third of female online gamers play sports or work out while only 34 percent of female non-online gamers do the same. More than half of female online gamers say that online games make them happy and they feel smarter when playing online games.

Thirty-eight percent of female online gamers have kids under the age of eighteen and 61 percent of female online gamers play between 8 pm and midnight. We wonder what would have happened if they had asked the same questions of blokes?

Figures from an online game outfit Nexon have shown that 75 per cent of online marriages which took place a game called MapleStory, have ended in divorce.

Cnet reports that of 26,982 in-game marriages 20,344 have ended in divorce. What is funny is that although the game is supposed to be about virtual relationships, the moaning from players is surprisingly real.

One player said that when he started playing he was “young, naive, and thought I had met 'the one'. When she asked me what I wanted in MapleStory for my birthday, and I told her that the only thing I could ever want was for her to marry me."

Apparently however over time she started saying that he wasn't the person she fell in love with. That he had changed, and that didn't seem to care about her anymore.

What gave this a virutal spin was Tyler continued that his best friend called him to say his new virtual wife was sabotaging him in the game. Ground for divorce!

In the game a virtual marriage will set you back $25. Thankfully, a virtual divorce is somewhat less damaging. MapleStory producer Crystin Cox admitted that while it looks like our players break up at a much higher rate than people do in real life, players dont get stung for alimony and don't have to split their loot, virtual pets or any enchanted items. Nor do they have to flee the country and return to a one bedroom squat in the British Midlands.